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Please welcome to Moonbeams over Atlanta, the return of the annual Queer Sci Fi’s (5th) Flash Fiction Anthology published today in eBook or Paperback. For the fifth year in a row, I have a story published in it. *smile* Note the chance to enter a Rafflecopter giveaway below.

Queer Sci Fi has just released the annual QSF Flash Fiction anthology. This year, the theme is “Migration.”

MI-GRA-TION (noun)

1) Seasonal movement of animals from one region to another.

2) Movement of people to a new area or country in order to find work or better living conditions.

3) Movement from one part of something to another.

Three definitions to inspire writers around the world and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell. Here are 120 of our favorites.

Migration features 300 word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.

Each year, hundreds of writers send in stories for the Queer Sci Fi flash fiction anthology. Here are the opening lines from some of the stories chosen for the 2019 edition – Migration:

“Darkness has substance. It is tangible; different shades within the black, sounds, a taste. It is accompanied by self-awareness of time and thoughts, even when other senses fail.” —Hope for Charity, by Robyn Walker

“The sky has been screaming for five straight days when the shrimps come to take us away. They’ve been boxing up the others and hauling them off. Now they’re here for us, soaking wet, dragging cords and crates behind them.” —Shrimpanzee, Sionnain Bailey

“Allister always had faultless hair. He’d comb and gel it to perfection while gazing in the mirror. One day a pair of eyes stared back.” —Zulu Finds a Home, by Kevin Klehr

“On her sister’s wedding day Ari noticed that one of her ears had migrated to her hand. It was right after her high school crush, Emily, arrived with Cousin Matt.” —Playing It By Ear, Aidee Ladnier

“The wound was fatal. Their vessel wouldn’t live much longer. This is what came from leaving loose ends. Frantically they sought out a new vessel to migrate to. “ —The Essence, by L.M. Brown

“That night, we were sitting in the bed of her daddy’s old pickup truck and the radio was playing the best song. We had a pack of cigarettes between us and her hand was almost touching mine. The wheat field was silver in the moonlight. When they came, we weren’t surprised, just disappointed that our time was up already.” —Our Song, by Lauren Ring

“Willow said she was my wife, but I knew it wasn’t her, not the right her, anyway. Sure she looked like her with olive skin and bright pink hair. She even smelled of mango flowers, just like I remembered, but there was something about her smile that was slightly off, something about when she said she loved me that didn’t sit well in my old heart.” — They Said It Would Be Her, by Elizabeth Andre

“Agnes is eight when she first sees the river. Cutting its way through town, the only thing she knows not coated in coal dust. She sticks her toes in, comes home with wet socks and a secret. See, the river hadn’t been there yesterday.” —Stream of Consciousness, by Ziggy Schutz

“Terry twirled in her green synthsilk dress, looked at her reflection, liked what she saw. She felt good in her own skin, for maybe the first time.” —Altball, by RE Andeen

“The thing was in the corner. It had come through the window and had slid down the wall. Scratch went the sound. The noise of a hundred nails clawing at the wood. Nails of white bone. Alex pulled the sheets up quickly, covering every inch of skin and hair in a warm darkness.” —Whose Nightmare, by Jamie Bonomi

Hi, everyone! Thanks to Eloreen for having me on her blog today to talk about my new release, The Player’s Protégé. This is the second story in the Campus Connections series and features Jerry, the cynical best friend of Eric from The Kinsey Scale, and Arlo, a sweet, inexperienced guy for whom Jerry becomes a mentor.

This is blog post #1 in The Player’s Protégé blog tour, so why don’t we start at the beginning with some of Jerry and Arlo’s childhood memories?

I’m interviewing each one separately, because they aren’t together yet.

JERRY

Tell me some of your best childhood memories.

Jerry: My childhood was basically utter crap. I was a flaming queen, even as a boy, but I grew up in the middle of Texas and my dad was a macho oil man. So you can imagine how my being gay went over with him and all the other homophobes around. But you were asking for good memories. Mom taught me how to sew when I was in the sixth grade. I fell in love with fabrics and fashion and creating costumes. Mom’s sewing room was my safe haven.

How about one of your worst childhood memories?

Jerry: Did the “utter crap” remark pique your interest? I was the target of mean and toxic boys insecure in their own masculinity from first grade on. I never made any secret of my feminine side—I couldn’t, because it was just me. I fought back with snarky remarks that mostly went over their heads and when the bullying turned physical I could usually outrun them. One time I didn’t. After they beat me up, I vowed I’d never let anyone get to me like that again—physically, emotionally, or any other way. And I haven’t.

ARLO

Tell me some of your best childhood memories.

Arlo: Growing up on the dairy farm was mostly real fun. We worked hard but we all got along. I have fond memories of my mother’s Mexican cooking. A favorite memory is when I discovered Tae Kwon Do. A martial arts studio opened up in Lancaster and my parents enrolled me in a class. I watched these guys and gals in white robes and bare feet doing these amazing moves and I was hooked. I’ve been doing Tae Kwon Do ever since.

How about one of your worst childhood memories?

Arlo: My dad getting sick. He has MS which was diagnosed when I was around seven. I still remember seeing him in pain and having to be in bed or a wheelchair at times. It was so hard because Dad had always been Superman in my eyes. He could do anything. To see him helpless, felled by this disease, really shattered my comfortable world. Luckily, the disease has periods of remission fairly frequently. But my dad having to deal with a chronic illness shaped me. My friends call me a caregiver. I guess I am.

Synopsis

When his friends bet cynical Jerry that he can’t turn sweet Arlo into a player, Jerry might win the bet but lose his heart.

College senior Jerry Helstrom survived a gay childhood in Texas by being fierce and fabulous. At school he’s known as a player and has kept his heart so guarded that he’s forgotten he has one. When his friends bet him he can’t teach inexperienced Arlo Barnes to become a stud like him, Jerry takes on the challenge and quickly finds himself drawn to his enticing trainee.

Arlo kicks butt as a Tae Kwon Do black belt, but his sexual game is lacking. He’s been dumped by his only boyfriend and needs help getting himself out there. Enter Jerry Helstrom, player extraordinaire and happy to provide Arlo with some hands-on coaching. Jerry encourages Arlo to ask for what he wants in sex and in life, something Arlo struggles with. The struggle deepens when Arlo discovers that what he truly wants is the seemingly unattainable Jerry Helstrom.

Jerry can teach Arlo to play the field, but can Arlo teach Jerry to play for keeps?

Excerpt

After Arlo left, Tyrone blew out an exasperated breath. “Why’d ya have to be so mean, boo?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Eric laughed. “Jerry’s mean to everyone at first. Right, Will?”

“I never noticed,” Will drawled.

“You wouldn’t.” Eric leaned in for a kiss. “But believe me, he had you down as a boring sports jock.”

“Hot, though,” Jerry murmured. “That won you points right away. And the fact that you were driving Eric crazy was entertaining.”

“Oh my.” Jerry put his chin in his hands and widened his eyes. “I always wondered how y’all managed to beat off with the other one right there. Do tell.”

Tyrone held up his hand. “Guys, guys, can we have this conversation another time? Y’all need to help me talk Jerry into mentoring Arlo.”

“Mentoring him in what?” Eric raised laughing eyes to Jerry. “Although I can think of several areas.”

<em>I miss you</em>. It came out of nowhere. He and Eric had been thick as thieves all through college. Once they sorted out that they weren’t meant to be boyfriends, they’d remained best friends and shared countless late-night conversations in this very restaurant. Most of them this year had been about Eric’s seemingly hopeless crush on Will. But all of that had come to a halt now that Eric and Will were lovers. Not that Will would mind if Eric and Jerry continued their habit of hanging out in Alekos. At least Jerry didn’t think he would. But Will and Eric were currently wrapped up in their own romantic world.

Jerry shook his head and focused in on what Tyrone was saying.

“… and since Jake dumped him on his ass after cheating on him, Arlo’s been moping around. We were talking, and he was telling me that he needed some advice about getting out there. Jake was the only guy he’s ever dated, and he needs help in figuring out the hookup scene.”

Purchase

Meet the Author

After years of hearing characters chatting away in her head, CJane Elliott finally decided to put them on paper and hasn’t looked back since. A psychotherapist by training, CJane enjoys writing sexy, passionate stories that also explore the human psyche. CJane has traveled all over North America for work, and her characters are travelers too, traveling into their own depths to find what they need to get to the happy ending.

CJane is an ardent supporter of LGBTQ equality and is particularly fond of coming-out stories. In her spare time, CJane can be found dancing, listening to music, or watching old movies. Her family supports her writing habit by staying out of the way when they see her hunched over, staring intently at her laptop.

CJane is the author of the award-winning Serpentine Series, New Adult contemporary novels set at the University of Virginia. Serpentine Walls was a 2014 Rainbow Awards finalist, Aidan’s Journey was a 2015 EPIC Awards finalist, and Sex, Love, and Videogames won first place in the New Adult category in the 2016 Swirl Awards and first place in Contemporary Fiction in the 2017 EPIC eBook Awards. All the Way to Shore was Runner Up for Best Bisexual Novel in the 2017 Rainbow Awards.

So, I joined a Valentine’s Day Book Fair and to celebrate, I’ve changed the pricing for Together on Amazon. It’s now $1.99! It’s on Kindle Unlimited but I’m thinking to take it off when it expires and publishing on other retailers. Stay tuned though, I will be creating a print version for those that like to have the physical book in your hand. Click on the link in the picture above to sign up for a chance for two Amazon Gift Cards.

In other news, I was part of the #FreeBookFriday at #RLFblog on 2/1 (Charon’s Dilemma) and 1/25 (Together). If you sign up for my newsletter, you can get Charon’s Dilemma for free. Click here if you would like to sign up. If you don’t get an email to get your free copy of Charon’s Dilemma from Prolific Works (formerly known as instaFreebie), contact me.

The Day Job (TM) is kicking my butt. So, I haven’t been posting, writing, or on social media much for the last month. I hope that will change soon. I plan on writing more and getting more stories out. We’ll see how that goes. GRL 2019 is coming up for registration in a couple of weeks. I’m going to attempt to sign up as a reader because I still do not have the minimum requirement for Supporting Author. I plan to have that this year, but not in time for GRL possibly. We’ll see.

I have a few collaborations, the paranormal POC anthology, and reediting Charon’s Dilemma with maybe a sequel to it I want to write this year. I’m not sure I’ll get to all of it, but I’m going to try. Perhaps I will get another new story from my WIPs completed too. That would be nice. One of them is a MM romance retelling of Grimms Cat-Skin. I just need to have the time to finish it.

With the advent of my print version of Together, I did a poll contest in my Moon’s Mob groups on Facebook and the naughtier version on MeWe. If you would like to join my group, sign up at the links below.

I plan to send Newsletter only information for my subscribers sometime soon. Probably will include a free copy of the print version of Together once I release it. It will be a Newsletter only contest so you will need to subscribe for a chance to win. More information will be sent when I get there.

Since text converted emojis from my blog do weird things to my newsletter, I’m going to try to avoid them. We’ll see how this goes. I’m going to have to get better at finding clip art. *smile*

And on a purely random note, how about a kitty picture with two of the 11 (yes, 11) cats that live in my house at the moment. This is Buster on the left (she’s one of two girls) and I think that’s Espurr on the right. They belong to my daughters. They are doing a good job being a ying-yang symbol. Ignore the power wire they are under…

Thank you for entering in my Rafflecopter for an opportunity to win one of two free eBooks for Together, my people of color, menage (MMM), contemporary romance. If you didn’t win, it’s on sale for $1.99 current on all the major Amazon outlets, including Amazon US and Amazon UK.

Sorry for the delay, I had to factory reset my phone today. 😦

I’m still recovering from that… Well, you aren’t here to read about my phone woes.

The two winners are…

Sula Holland and Michael Bratek!

They will be contacted via email to claim their prize and the Rafflecopter will show them as well. If you know them on social media and follow me, please let them know that they’ve won.

It’s the new year and I have plans on releasing additional stories. As I know, I will post here. Join my newsletter and you can get exclusive advanced notice of ARCs, release dates, and excerpts.

If you follow my blog/newsletter/Facebook, you will know that I had a rough beginning to December culminating in my furry friend passing to the great beyond a couple of weeks ago. Then the holidays arrived and I haven’t had much free time.

I wanted to get this out there since it ends January 5th. I have plans for the new year for more stories (and revamping and releasing early ones), but the actual schedule is a little fuzzy. I do plan on doing a paperback version of Together in the first month of 2019. Would people like that? Let me know in the comments. 🙂

This is going to be short because I’m still short on time. Follow me on social media as I do pop in there from time to time. I do answer posts and comments when I can, but I’m not on Facebook all the time. Twitter is easier to get in touch with me faster if you have a burning question.

Together is currently on sale in the UK Amazon space (starting 12/24) and US Amazon space will have a sale starting Jan 2019 for a week each. Act fast as they will go up every couple of days until it’s full price at the end of the week!

Join me for an author take over on FB on 9/22/18 8 pm EDT. You’ll have to be a member of the group to participate. Event starts at 4 PM EDT if you would like to meet other authors. There might be prizes… 😉

Takeover will be devoted to Beautiful Skin, of which, Together is within. You might even see the cover reveal of my individual story…

It’s been a long several months. Work, teeth issues, family drama, traveling… it’s all taken a toll. I hope to be able to finish my paranormal romance of color that’s due end of this month. I can do it. It’s only 15k words. I did start it. Just need to finish. We’ll see.

I’ll try to get a better update here soon. I have a few reviews I owe as well.

Callie, a Classics major, flees home to
protect her family from a monster straight out of mythology. Visions lead her to Nectar and Ambrosia: the
weirdest pub on Earth, where inter-dimensional travelers with attention seeking
issues get drunk in between the A-list celebrity lives they create. They can’t
pretend to be gods anymore—not since a treaty with the current Supreme Deity promising
they won’t intervene in human affairs.

The Doorkeeper of this threshold,
Florian, rides herd on the rowdy Amaranthine and offers her shelter and a job.
Callie likes the lonely, mysterious bartender more than she should. For
Florian, her presence is a ray of light in the gray monotony of his sentence
behind the bar, but he keeps a cautious distance—the truth of how he became
Doorkeeper could change Callie’s perception of him forever.

When angels show up for a war council
over Zeus’s irrational mutters about a comeback, Callie has uncontrolled
visions of an apocalypse. Ex-gods
realize she’s the first Oracle Priestess in generations. All Callie wanted was
keep her parents safe, and now it seems she must sacrifice her future to keep
the rest of humanity safe, too. Ambrosia could be the key to harnessing her
visions— or it could cost her life.

War is coming. The threshold between
worlds has never been more fragile. Callie must discover who is pulling Zeus’s
strings and avert the final battle—before the immortal vying to become the next
Supreme Deity kills her first.

Callie turned away, trying to decide if
Florian and all his clientele were delusional or if it was some kind of big
role-playing game for rich people. Folks could have a thing about dressing up
in furry animal costumes. She supposed they could pretend to be gods and
goddesses too. If it was a mythology RPG, they weren’t concerned with the
classical part, except for the guy she saw yesterday afternoon. She was
relieved to have a rational explanation for the horns.

Something moved outside the glass front
door. Her heart seized in momentary panic. What if the monster still lurked out
there?

Strange, visible turbulence seemed to
ripple the panes. Callie squeezed her eyes shut to clear her sight and prayed
it wasn’t the aura of an oncoming seizure. Cool relief extinguished the rising
sparks of panic as the effect dissipated.

The door opened and revealed a
spiky-haired, punk rock kid years too young to be in any bar. Callie was forced
to squint in order see him clearly as he strode in, his outlines strangely
blurred and soft. Sullen teenaged fluidity rolled in every line of his body. He
surveyed the bar, narrow kohl-ringed eyes settling on the heavily intoxicated
Zeus. A sneer comprised of equal parts contempt and satisfaction flickered over
his mouth.

“There he is, the great king of the
gods,” he muttered. He moved toward the bar, a glare of disdain sweeping
over the other patrons. His eyes widened in appreciation as they passed over
Callie, a little smirk growing as his gaze lingered too long on the front of
her college t-shirt.

Despite her confusion on how he’d
arrived, she gave him a thin smile and a cool nod, crossing her arms over her
chest. He stopped short, an expression of shock on his face. Then a quick,
sunny grin took over. His blurry outlines sharpened as he drew closer and she
relaxed her squinted eyes, no longer struggling to focus on him. She decided it
was a trick of the neon-tinted lights hanging in garish advertisement on the
walls of the bar.

“My, my, my. Who have we
here?” His voice, thick with Cockney vowels, dipped to an intimate tone as
he approached. His body language changed to something more unsettlingly mature.
He was older than he appeared. “Who do you belong to?”

“I’m Callie. I don’t belong to
anybody, but I work for Florian,” she corrected him politely. “Can I
get you something?”

“You are new
here, aren’t you?” He flipped two fingers out, a driver’s license between
them. She took it. No stranger to fake
ID’s, this one appeared to be real, and passed him as twenty-one. Still…

“John Smith, huh?”

He captured Callie’s fingers as she
returned the license and kissed the back of her hand in old-fashioned
courtliness, sea-colored eyes glinting in mischief. An odd, visceral twinge
from her early warning system made her startle as his lips touched her skin.
Goose bumps flecked her arms. A totally alien sensation overwhelmed her senses:
it was as if something crawled off her skin toward his mouth. She shivered in
response and tried to pull her hand away. His grin widened as he tightened his
grip, apparently delighted by her discomfiture.

Puck made a mocking bow over her hand
and released it, smirking again as he backed away, still admiring her in
undisguised interest. Between them, a well-dressed man stepped directly into Callie’s
path. He swerved with a graceful spin and apologized as Callie’s sneakers
squeaked to an abrupt halt on the concrete floor.

“Sorry, hon. Good evening, gods and
goddesses!”

“Herm!” came a shouted group
greeting from the room at large.

“And fairies,” the man
belatedly added, nodding at the punk rocker.

Puck offered him an extended middle
finger and a dangerous smile. Callie’s mouth fell open, recognizing the
Armani-suited guy from the previous afternoon.

“Jeeze, homophobic much?” she
muttered.

“Trust me love, I am all fairy and
he is far from homophobic. Sexual orientation has nothing to do with him being
a prick.” Puck glared at the man’s back with undisguised hatred before
another lightning-quick mood change and a devilish grin took over. “Make that
tequila a double.” He winked at her, eyes making another head to toe rake
of her body before he disappeared into the clump of huge Scandinavian-looking,
Corona-swilling dart players.

Callie’s hair still prickled on the back
of her neck even after Puck left, and she rubbed it, troubled. She turned back
to the room, stopped short, and stared. More customers sat at tables and in the
shadows of the booths, each group just a little stranger than the last. None of
them used the door.

And the Armani guy—he’d stepped into her
path. Right out of the air.

Something intensely freaky was happening
that she couldn’t rationalize away, no matter how hard she tried.

Was Florian telling the truth?

Instead of fear, a deep, visceral
excitement flip-flopped in her abdomen, butterflies on steroids.

She never pinpointed exactly when wonder
began to crowd out her reservations. Rushing between the cooler and the tables,
she caught snatches of conversation and shouted greetings when others appeared.
Having to bite back questions when she delivered their beverages replaced the
urge to roll her eyes. She fought to keep a professional demeanor rather than
fangirl all over herself when Florian introduced the Armani guy to her as
Hermes. Hermes! One of her favorite characters in Greek mythology.

Three hours into the shift, she took a
quick bathroom break. Her back against the door, Callie put her hands over her
mouth and muffled something that sounded suspiciously like a shriek. Whether it
was fear or excitement, she couldn’t quite say. Her breath came fast and short
until she got dizzy. She spun the tap on the sink and the shock of cold water
on her face helped bring her back down.

“What the hell, Callie? Are you
really going to believe this?” she muttered to herself in the mirror. She
grabbed a paper towel to blot the moisture away and waded back out into the
crowded bar.

Purchase

Meet the Author

Elisabeth “E.M.” Hamill is a nurse by day, unabashed geek, chocoholic, sci fi and fantasy novelist by nights, weekends, and wherever she can steal quality time with her laptop. She lives with her family, a dog, and a cat in the wilds of eastern suburban Kansas, where they fend off flying monkey attacks and prep for the zombie apocalypse.

While I’ve been working an inordinate amount of hours for that blasted Real Life job, I have done some writing and plans are in the works for more. Not as much writing as I would like; but between reading, reviewing and the little writing I have done, it’s kept my sanity on more than one occasion.

I just finished creating posts for another review (see post today) and I had posted one from a new author 11 days ago: The Palisade. Great story. I would recommend it. I’m working on the second book in that series in my copious spare time (yes, the sarcasm is high in that one). Expect a review for it in the next month. I hope.

I am doing more reviews both here and RGR. In fact, RGR is doing a Transgender Awareness Event starting today in response to a certain President’s stance on Transgenders in the the military a couple of weeks ago. It’s two weeks of reviews, spotlights, giveaways, guest post, and fun. Come join use as we celebrate all Transgender fiction. There’s even a podcast done by one of our own at RGR. (Not me, thank goodness). Links below.

Back in early June, I posted about the new QSF Flash Fiction story in Renewal. Still haven’t heard much more about it as the last couple of months have been hectic. (see start of this post)

Later in June, I found another Flash Fiction contest from a QSF post somewhere on social media, and decided to enter it. PodCastle‘s 2017 Flash Fiction Contest was completed but I didn’t get past the first round. Most liked the beginning but didn’t like the ending. Shrug. There were definitely others more worthy of winning so I’m not surprised. I like my twisty stories. 🙂 Since I didn’t make it, I am free to post it here. It was a whole 500 words and that seemed like luxury. Here you go. Let me know what you think. I might expand it later on. When I get a chance. Isn’t that what a writer says? *smile*

“I have no idea what I’m going to do.” I stared at the Lotto ticket I had at my hand. It matched the numbers just announced on the TV. I turned to my bestie Mitch panicked. I had plenty of magic in me but nothing prepared me for Lady Luck.

“Lucas, before you do anything, you talk to a financial guru.” He immediately answered. “With that much money, once you claim it, you’ll be mobbed by every warlock, ‘were, and weremage– anyone who has even a remote familial connection to you will come out of the woodworks.”

“You’re not kidding,” I snorted. “You know anyone? I’ve got nothing.” My lemur half wanted to get going. As a weremage, a shifter and a magic-user combined, we tend not deal with mundane things like finances, ever.

“Actually, I do.” Mitch stood up smirking, pulled out a warn business card from his wallet, and then presented it to me with flourish. My impatience had me wanting to beat-down his cocky werewolf hide. He pointed to the card. “Kenton’s a distant cousin. He gave that to me when he started up some number of years ago after finishing school here. He’ll know what to do.”

With that, I typed the digits into my phone, and called.

#

The next day, I teleported to the address Kenton had given me when I had set up the appointment for this morning. Driving was a bitch and my magic was fresh. The ticket was in my safe at home– at Mitch’s insistence and Kenton’s confirmation– photo proof the only thing needed on my phone. I walked up to the entrance.

The door swung in as I reached to open, and the most gorgeous guy I had ever seen stood in front of me. Shorter than my 6 feet, a lean swimmer’s body, and an adorable face with dark hair tripped all my buttons. I reigned my lust in as much as I could and reached to shake his hand.

“Hello Lucas, I’m Kenton–” he started; but when our hands met, both of us twitched as the shock of desire, emotions, and recognition passed between us.

We said “Mate” at the same time already in-sync as if we had done this before.

I pulled him into my arms and he went willingly staring at each me in such wonder. “I never thought I would find my mate after all these years.”

“Neither did I.” We kissed, and I realized we had done this before as snippets of lifetimes we had previously lived played through my mind. Startled, I pulled from the kiss both reluctant to stop and curious to know. “Um. Did you see—?”

“Yes,” Kenton said, shock adding to the wonder in his face.

I loosely held him in my arms staring into those intense blue eyes as he held my brown-green ones. Silently, I thanked Lady Luck and the Lotto ticket that had brought us together as we went inside to a new life.

What do you think? Comment below and I’ll respond. Might not be quickly, but I’ll get there.

As for other writings, I’ve gotten some ideas, a request to co-write something, and the urge to work on previous WIPs. I did a little for Camp NaNoWriMo but work, again, got in the way, and writing in July didn’t happen. It’s now mid-August and the work schedule is still high. I spent most of this past weekend working. No rest for the weary.

Well, I have to run. Read some more trans stories for the RGR event and reviews for others. This includes a possible MF story for next month. We’ll have to see. Dragon Con is coming and my annual trek to it.

This is the third year I’ve participated in this blog hop and I will continue to do so. I continue to help one person, one blog, one post at a time. We’ve had the transgender issues with the public restrooms floating around social media. We have others post videos, memes, and other types in support. We need to continue to support everyone in the LGTBQ arena because we are all different and we should be celebrating diversity regardless of who you love, what religion, or who you want to be.

That would kind of boring to be just like everyone else.

It makes me smile when my teens talk openly about sex, gender roles, and their confidence in their own identities.

And that inspires me to write something that I haven’t done in awhile. To that, I’ve created this poem.

Teach the young so they may know nothing else.
Help your elders to see change.
Understand someone’s beliefs and identities.
Be yourself as much as you are able.
Fly in the face of the societal norms
Love yourself and love others.
In the end we are all the same.

-Eloreen

I am giving away a $5 Gift Certificate to an e-Retailer of the winner’s choice to buy that must-have LGBTQ title on your “to be read” list. 🙂

To enter, comment on this post your own creative ways to get a positive message of out to others about Visibility, Awareness & Equality for LGBTQ community. If you haven’t done anything yet, give us what you would like to do.

Contest will end at 11:59 pm EDT 5/24/2016 and a randomly chosen commentator (random.org) will win within the next day or two.
I will be contacting the winner via email and posting the name as well.